Immortal Bodies

Chapter 1--9 years later

Annaliese felt strong hands shake her awake. As she opened her eyes, she saw her uncle standing over her. She sat upright instantly.

"Am I late?" she grumbled groggily.

"Not late," Uncle Ed replied with a hint of a smile. "Just nervous, I think. It's time for school."

Uncle Ed wasn't wrong. Annaliese was nervous, and that was a fact. Shouldn't everyone be on their first day of school? Or was it just her? She ran a hand through her thick blond hair, glancing at the bedside table, in which a clock sat glowing a misty 6:02.

"Thank you," Annaliese sighed. "For waking me up."

Her uncle smiled, his wrinkles stretching to make him look older than he actually was. "It's only for the time being, Annaliese. You know that, don't you?"

He patted her on the shoulder. She knew what he was talking about but didn't want to discuss the matter.

"I know. I'm fine, really," she assured him, but this was a lie. Things couldn't be worse for her right now. Her dad was gone, leaving her with her aunt and uncle and this empty feeling lingering in her heart. Her mind was on the edge of cracking, she was so confused. She had spent half the night last night thinking mercilessly about why her father had to leave so suddenly it couldn't wait. It had crossed her mind that maybe her father wanted to get rid of her, but for some reason, she felt that her father loved her too much to do that.

She was sixteen, and ready to face the horrors of highschool. Her father didn't say what he had to do, or why, just that he would be back, and that was a promise. Apparently,  he had instructed Uncle Ed to enroll her in the local high school.

 She remembered his exact words as he caught her in an embrace last night:

 "I'll be back, Annaliese. I promise."

 "Dad--"

 "I love you. I love you so much."

 But if he loved her, why couldn't he tell her? Why couldn't he call her and tell her what was going on? Why was she feeling like she had just been left? All these questions ran round and round her mind, ranging in such different emotions it was hard to tell between each one.

Uncle Ed left with a sad smile as Annaliese swung her legs out of her legs out of bed with a sigh. She walked across the guestroom to the bathroom, showered quickly in the warmest water she had ever bathed in, and dressed, then tucked the long blond strands of her hair into a braid and wondered if this was how new girls dressed on their first day of a new eleventh grade day at high school.

 She stared around the room around her, taking in the scenery. In one corner, there was a bookshelf, housing many ancient-looking books and old stories, the shelves towering to the ceiling. In the other corner was the small bed with a soft blue color, and then the dresser on the opposite side, made with dark mahogany wood.

 It was strange, she thought, that the room she was in didn't feel like her new home for the time being. As a matter of fact, it felt like completly new territory, almost as if slipping into the woods and sleeping on the cold ground. Was if supposed to?

 She walked over to the dresser housing a tall mirror and stared at her reflection. "You don't need to be afraid today," she instructed her reflection. "It's just highschool."

 Then, turning away from the mirror, she slung and old, ratted book bag over her shoulder filled with alll the books she needed for her classes that her Uncle had given her, and raced down the stairs.

"Ready?' Uncle Ed held up the Camry car keys and shook them.

Annaliese nodded. "Course. Let's do it."

****
Expectation: This would stop.

Reality: How much you want to bet it won't?

Riley Carson did this every morning, forcing herself to be on alert. She had been "off caution" so many times since she little and yet it always caught her by surprise, so as she got older, she took to just stayed on alert all the time.

She opened her locker and threw her bookbag in it, closing her eyes in the process. Maybe if she kept them closed everything would stop. The demons, the monsters, the myths....Everything. She slightly smiled at the thought.

"Riley, what are you doing?"

Riley opened her eyes to to see her best friend, Christian, standing  beside her. She forced a smile and tried to think of a legitimate answer. "Thinking," she replied finally.

"About what?" Christian asked, turning the combination to his locker. It opened with a click!

"School and such," Riley said. She hoped it was as believeable as she thought, because she hated the thought that Christian asked her so many questions about her secret.

Christian stared at her, taking in her her green eyes and rich black hair, framed with a milky white face. He fumbled with her hair, twisting it with his finger, something he often did when he was about to say the normal: "Okay," meaning this:

 Even if I don't believe you, I still care enough to trust you'll take care of it.

Riley looked away then, her face burning with embarrassment. Why did she have to be such a terrible friend and keep this secret from him? Why did she have to lie and rely on her best friend for school when she couldn't eve tell him her secret?

She looked back towards Christian, but not at him, because something else caught her eye.

 Riley's gasp was caught between her throat as a shudder erupted down her spine and chills made their way through her body. Her bones went ice cold, as her blood froze.

 It was there. There was no denying it. But that wasn't the scary thing about why she saw it. It was that the girl right in front of it did, too.